I've never really listened to podcasts before and I'm getting tired of listening to music. My commute is terrifyingly boring and I need a refreshing change. I would be really interested in general gaming news, but I tend to favor PC gaming over other platforms. Any recommendations?

That's my problem with most gaming podcasts in general. A little bit of banter is nice, but when I download a podcast and it is over 2 or 3 hours long and most of that is the hosts talking about mundane aspects of their lives, it gets tiresome very quickly.

I don't really listen to any gaming podcasts other than giantbombcast, but from what I cal tell, discussion of personal lives does occur. However, they still have some sort of rough course they follow for the show and usually try to limit banter and keep things game related.

But it's definitely one of those podcasts where it kind of helps to be familiar with the cast.

Podcasts are a mixture of discussion and banter. Informational/pure discussion podcasts tend to not be as successful because if you're interested in the topic you've probably heard everything they're going to say.

For me personally, a good podcast makes me feel like I'm hanging out with a couple of friends that are just shooting the shit and talking about things I'm interested in.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong but it sounds like you just sat down for 10 minutes and did nothing but listen to the podcast. Podcasts, just like the radio shows they descend from, are best as something in the background. Personally, I'm generally playing games like WoW, Diablo III, L4D2 or similar games that aren't really competitive or focus-oriented. For example, I probably wouldn't listen to a podcast while playing Starcraft 2 or DotA 2/League.

Same situation, Rooster Teeth Podcast gets mean sometimes and they yell far too much, Giantbombcast talks about games and their lives, however they keep me entertained much more than rooster teeth guys. The best gaming podcast I have found is the Bungie Podcast. They only did about 30 eps. but they are good gaming podcasts, each ep they have one of their employees come in and tell them about what they work on at bungie how they got started in the gaming industry and what people should look forward to from them. Funny as hell too.

This one is pretty entertaining, but I stopped listening to it because I'm patient/cheap with my gaming, so I'm not playing super current games and at least the episodes I listened to, they were pretty free with spoilers of recent games/movies either without warning or even with warning I'd have to skip ahead random amounts of time to hopefully avoid them. The podcast just became too much work for me to actually listen to.

Funny, though, and worth checking out if the spoilers wouldn't be an issue.

I second the My Brother, My Brother and Me recommendation. Really funny podcast (two of the titular brothers write for a gaming website, though games are very rarely a topic on the show).

I would also recommend the Gamers With Jobs podcast. They seem to talk about PC games a bit more than a lot of the other popular games podcasts, and tend to stay pretty focused on games rather than going off on random tangents (not that there's anything wrong with that).

Dude, listen to GFW. Those guys are legendary. It's older stuff, back from a couple of years but they are hilarious. Jeff Green, Shawn Elliott, and the crew always make my road trips better. Try looking for a compilation of Best of GFW. :) (Games for Windows) they didn't necessarily stick with PC games though. Check it out if you can :)

I will also be looking into what other people recommended, but GFW is what started my podcast obsession. I remember listening to it all day at my old job to get me through the day haha.

Some of the old Yogpod episodes were hilarious, unfortunately they didn't finish their second DnD episode, which was one of the funniest things I've listened to.
I do need to listen to more podcasts myself. Although it is not gaming related, The Ricky Gervais Guide To's are hilarious.

I've been going on a massive radiolab archive binge lately, I usually wake up early and just listen to it for an hour before I get up. Very good way to get your brain to actually turn on in the morning.

Yeah, I don't know why it's not more popular. It's not usually as gregarious as podcasts like Rooster Teeth or Giantbomb, but it's still entertaining. I like that they keep the non-gaming-related chit chat to a minimum.

Idle Thumbs (The more reflexive, thoughtful, creative and critical of the two)

Other:

Radio From Hell (A fantastic local morning show which bucks most "morning show" trends by building itself around the personalities of the hosts, which leads to some great interplay and humor)

Doug Loves Movies (A casual podcast loosely built around movies but mostly conversation and the personalities of the guests. Nice community feel due to the running jokes and recurring guests.)

Movie B.S. (A film podcast with some humorous banter and reviews)

The Nerdist (Interview show with a lot of industry-related conversation - download episodes for guests you're interested in hearing.) The Nerdist also has a slew of related podcasts, like the Nerdist Writers Panel, that are well worth hearing.

Plus it's great to be able to say things like "Hey, these guys were calling Gears of War 2's campaign out for being a bunch of linear, flashy nothing while everybody else was unreservedly praising it!"

I can say I enjoy having Bob Mackey as the host as opposed to Jeremy Parish, it has made the podcast less "technical" since I feel Parish took a more medical approach to his topics. I still like Parish's new podcast (games dammit) and I love listening to the 1up guys in general.

it's not you, I completely agree. It's certainly more prevalent on the older retronauts episodes, the guests (Jose Otero, Scott Sharky, Ray Barnhold, etc.) in Games Dammit are great and really help balance him out, so he doesn't come off nearly as bad as he did in retronauts.

I know it's not what you asked for, but have you considered something educational? Self-improvement or language learning, perhaps? I wouldn't have it be the only thing on your pod, but you might find it's more enjoyable when it's an alternative to a boring subway ride.

Trying to listen to those at home is a lot harder, since there are other things you could be doing.

Edit: Wouldn't. Wouldn't have it be the only thing. Sheesh. Why do I make that typo so often? Need to proofread my stuff better.

On this subject (non-gaming podcasts), I reccomend BBC's [In Our Time](http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qykl. I discovered it when looking for history podcasts, and they do a lot more than history, but it's a weekly 45ish minute radio show where they have a few experts come on and talk about different subjects in history, culture, philosphy, science, religion.

The entire archive all the way back to October 1998 is available. That's a lot of episodes.

It's over and done with now, but Gamesradar's Talkradar (American) was the best gaming podcast while it lasted! Every episode was hilarious and the cast really felt like they were a laid-back group of friends that you, listening to each episode, were hanging out with. The old episodes are still fun to listen to, but as of now they're done for.

Fortunately, if you like comic books or 80s and 90s pop culture, the same crew has gone onto produce the Cape Crisis and Lasertime podcasts, respectively. And on Lasertime they still cover big events in gaming, like PAX.

If you don't mind the absurdly obscene, you could go for The Comedy Button. It never fails to get a few chuckles out of me. I mean, it's not really gaming related, but it's about the best podcast that I know of.

I've started listening to John Teti's Gameological Society podcast recently called 'Gameological in Stereo'.

He's only made 5 so far but the one's I've listened to are really good - they're more discussion based than focusing on the latest news as well, so you don't have to worry as much about them not being current:

My main ones are Rebel Fm (former 1up and ign guys), Giant Bombcast, Weekend Confirmed, Show Me your news, Geekbox, radio free nintendo, and the joystiq show. If you have an iphone download instacast or if you have an android I heard dogcatcher is good as well.

Definitely the roosterteeth podcast, youtube search the animated adventures (my youtube won't load, wtf?) and see the ones about stupid horses and the 2 cunts, these types of story are a regular thing and are fucking hilarious!

Got the gaming news and movie news in there too. Honestly it's the only reason i like wednesdays.

Ari Shaffir's Skeptic Tank -- Ari Shaffir, comedian, hosts a show where a dedicated topic is explored through interviewing an experienced guest. He's very funny and great with interviews.

Mryacast -- Mary and David exchange funny stories and weigh in on current topical issues. Episode 69 is a really good one.

I listen to Podcasts quite a bit, these would be my recommendations. They aren't gaming Podcasts, but all the same I think you'd enjoy at least one of them. All these links are to the relevant iTunes pages.

Then I'd recommend the Yogpod. Sure, it's not always about games, but you can listen to the first half of it on the way to work and the rest on the way home. They basically answer questions that their fans send in to them and it's VERY funny.

LISTEN TO !!!! A life well wasted!!!!!!!!!! It is a podcast that came out 2010 and ended that year but it is amazing!!. Anoyone interested in gaming or just podcast should listen to that!!! http://alifewellwasted.com/